My present invention is that of a new and distinct cultivar of Philodendron plant which is the result of hybridization of Philodendron plants of unknown complex hybrid parentage.
Since the 1960's, an extensive Philodendron hybridizing program has been carried out in the vicinity of Orlando, Fla. Originally conceived and conducted by my late husband, Robert H. McColley, the hybridization efforts were continued under my auspices for several years by Dr. Howard N. Miller. Following Dr. Miller's retirement several years ago, the hybridization program was largely discontinued. However, I continued to raise thousands of plants from numerous crosses previously made, with particular interest in self-heading Philodendron plants having distinctive foliage color. Among a batch of seedlings of unknown parentage I identified and isolated a single plant which was strikingly different from all known Philodendron varieties. The single plant was a self-heading, rather than vining, variety, with rich red coloration in its new leaves. I have asexually reproduced the new variety from crown offshoots at nursery facilities located in the vicinity of Orlando, Fla. The new variety retains its distinctive characteristics through successive generations of asexual reproduction by vegetative cuttings of crown offshoots. Because the plant is compact, self-heading and has little stem, it is not commercially practical to propagate the plant from vegetative cuttings. The plant can be mass produced by tissue culture propagation techniques (organogenesis, using meristematic explants), and has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive generations of asexual reproduction.